Upon My Graduation (I WILL GRADUATE)

I am not sure what exactly I will be doing to impact the community but I do know that I will impact my immediate community, which includes my three sons. I want to show them that they can accomplish anything no matter how the odds are stacked against you. I have circumstances that some would look at as great obstacles and probably would give up on pursuing a degree but I am using them instead as fuel to move me ahead. I want my kids to be everything that they can be because I take my role as a parent/mother very seriously. I look at my children and I already know that they will change the world for the better. I want those around me to see that with determination you can accomplish your dreams. It has taken me many years to get a degree but I know that once I receive it, I will surely appreciate it more than if I had gotten it when I was younger. I am pursuing a degree in Sociology and I am still not sure about a minor but it will most likely be English since I plan on pursuing writing as a career. I am hoping that through studying sociology I will learn about what makes people tick so that what I write and share with the world can easily be interpreted and understood. It is my desire to uplift, inspire and provide a break from reality for my readers. I want to share the things that have helped my through my difficult times. Inspiring people with my God given gift of writing is my ultimate goal. I will leave you with a sample of my writing:

The process is ongoing

See I am still me

My outlook is different

Can’t you see?

No matter if you don’t

I know there is a difference

Because a while ago

I would’ve gotten mad

‘Cause you didn’t see

Makes me no never mind

The difference is there

The difference from then ‘til now

I truly do not care

About what you may think of me

Or what you think you see

Just that I am happy

With the changes in me

On Being An Adult

So my oldest asked if it was hard being an adult and my first quick response was yes! But then I begin to think about it and came to the realization that being an adult is not hard but the choices you make when you are young can make being an adult harder than it needs to be. One thing I believe people should take into account is it is okay to learn from others mistakes. While it is very true that we all must live and learn, it is also quite okay to watch someone else live and learn from their mistake. You don't have to experience everything and everything is not worth experiencing. Let's just say that I wish that I knew what I knew now. I mean I have no regrets but there are some things I would have done that I was afraid to do. I want my kids to have the confidence to do whatever they want and I want them to be happy. So I can honestly say that being an adult is not hard. The decisions you make throughout life determine that.

EMAIL CONFIDENCE

I want EMAIL CONFIDENCE. You may be wondering what EMAIL CONFIDENCE is. Well let me explain. In email, I can be very confident and assertive without being aggressive if that makes sense. But if I am speaking to you in person, I have to search for words and I tend to be quite shy about getting my point across to someone.  This is the case in some situations for me.  In emails, I can be so confident and get my point across so well but it would be like a totally different person if I were to ask or present the topic in person. Sad but true. As I am writing this, I am wondering if it is just about confidence or just being prepared. I can say that when I go into a situation thinking that I am prepared but it becomes quite clear that I am not when I begin to speak. It is quite frustrating because you always want to appear to be put together and on top of things. My husband suggests that I practice speaking but can that truly help when you have to talk about or present something out of the blue? Maybe it can if you want it to. I wonder why I have such a hard time doing this because I have all figured out in my head but when comes time to say it I can sound like an idiot. Maybe that is a bit harsh but that is how I feel at times. I can know about something and be confident in my knowing but when it comes to sharing I feel like people will look at me and wonder “what makes her such an expert?” or “why should I take what she says seriously?”. I know that it doesn’t help to feel this way but it is how I feel. I want that EMAIL CONFIDENCE!

EMAIL CONFIDENCE

To Edify or Not to Edify...What It Means

ed·i·fy 2
/ˈedəˌfī/ 

Verb 

Instruct or improve (someone) morally or intellectually.

Synonyms: educate 

This is an important word in a successful relationship. If you are not feeding you partner emotionally, intellectually, and physically then your relationship will not grow. A marriage cannot improve without some gardening taking place. You have to make sure your partner knows how you feel about them daily. Sometimes just saying I love you IS not enough. Let them know that you are the happiest person on earth because they are in your life. Tell them that you thank God daily for Him allowing the two of you to meet and become one. Tell them that you appreciate everything they do for you and your family. Let them know you noticed the little thing they did. All these things matter. Even if your partner seems like they don't care about it, they do. Edifying your mate is merely fertilizing your marriage garden. Fertilizer is an essential part of gardening. If you don't fertilize your garden, it may grow but not at it's best. If you fertilize the garden with the wrong stuff, it won't grow. The wrong stuff to fertilize your marriage with is complaining, nagging, ignoring, belittling, talking behind their backs. I think you get what I am saying. But when you fertilize with love, understanding, praise, encouragement, listening, your marriage garden has no other choice but to flourish. Take some time and think about your relationship. Have you edified your partner today?

Changing My Thought Process

This year has already been quite interesting. It has been going by so fast and my baby boy is growing so fast. He is doing things already that I don't think he should be. Anyways, I have began the process of owning my own business. I have became a consultant for Organic Life Products. It was started by a wonderful lady named Montina Portis who I became aware of on YouTube (aka Sparkwisdom). I watched her for a year before filling out the application to be a consultant. I am now working to build my business and introduce what I do to those around me. We are encouraged to get training from a young lady named Dani Johnson and she is awesome. Very blunt and honest. Sometimes you just need to hear it that way. I am in the process of changing the way I think. I figure if I have thought this way all my life and it hasn't gotten me anywhere then why not try and change it. Dani Johnson has so many aspects of life that she speaks on. I haven't even begun to listen to her other stuff just been listening to what she has to say on business.

What if being successful is all in the way you think? Why not change it or at least give it shot? What you (myself included) are doing now is apparently not working for you so why not change it up? We get into our comfort zones and instead of moving around or trying something different we complain and buy lottery tickets or complain and hope that the world around us changes because we want it to. I mean really DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!

So I am doing something different and I would like for you to check it out. So click below:

Dee Naturals Organic Life Products

BreastFeeding-LOVE IT

It has been two and half months since I gave birth to my third son. I am in love again and its crazy how much love I have for this child. It amazes me that I can love yet another child. Before he was born, I decided that I was going to breastfeed him no matter what. I started out breastfeeding my second son but didn’t really see the benefit and stopped after three months. Really wish I hadn’t done so. I think because I was still young I expected everything to work like the stories I had been reading but of course every story is different and individual experiences are not going to be the same.  I was expecting the weight to just fall off but it did not and I became frustrated and just stopped. How selfish was I? But like I said I was still a young mom (22). Before my third one came along, I made the decision to stick with it even once I went back to work.  This time around it has been awesome. I have support from everyone and it is great. At first I was a little uneasy with breastfeeding around my older kids, but because it didn’t seem to bother them I became more at ease. I am pumping for when I am away at work and everything is working out well. I am just working to build up a stash though; finding that to be a little difficult.  I have lost all the baby weight I gained and then some but this time it really wasn’t about me losing weight but me providing my baby with what he needs. I am enjoying the process. I love to feed him and have him look up into face as if to say, “Thanks mom”.  Not knocking anyone who formula feeds but I see the difference with my older two kids and my youngest already. There are truly some great benefits for him in breastfeeding. I would suggest to all new moms to at least try it. 

Building My Confidence

So this year I would like to do something that I always seem to avoid. I am going to work on my confidence. Let’s see if I can explain my dilemma. I know that I am capable of doing certain things but I am afraid that when it comes time for me to perform that I won’t be up to par. My latest lack of confidence in myself is applying for a job that actually has to do with what I am going to school for. I was a little intimidated when I begin to apply for the job because of the questions that they asked. They begin to ask my experience with the programs that will be heavily relied on to do the job. I guess it’s the way I work. I learn how to do things through trial and error but if I was asked specifically how to do something it may take me awhile to explain. I know that I can do it but I become so unsure about myself. This is how it has always been. I have always been unsure about myself when “people are looking”. When there is no one looking at me, I can do what I need to do with no problem and feel confident about the quality of my work. I don’t know how I am going to build my confidence but I think I will start by applying for the job.

2011 The Year of NEW

2011 was the year of NEW for my family and I. We did so many new things that it really surprises me. I mean we are a laid back group of people and kind of just go with the flow but last year we tried some new things and it proved to be an awesome year.  We started off the year getting a new vehicle and that was great. It was awesome to get a lower car note. We then began planning our first family vacation – New York. This was very new for us because the farthest we had gone as family on trips was to my family’s hometown in Louisiana. It would be the first time that my kids would fly and I was truly worried about that but it turned out they did much better than I thought they would. They were really unimpressed it seemed but they did enjoy seeing the clouds from above. Before the vacation though, we found out that we were pregnant and even though it was kind of planned, it still surprised us. I felt like because I was ten years older than what I was when I had my first two, I thought it was going to be much harder to get pregnant. So on our family vacation we were four and half because I was five months pregnant. That was also new thing traveling while pregnant. I will say I was worried for nothing but it was a bit uncomfortable being a plus size woman.  That is a whole other post though.  So right before I had our third son, we moved into our first house. There is nothing like your first house. We don’t have to worry about any body above us or below us. It is quite nice. And then the major finale of 2011, me giving birth to our 10 lb 9 oz baby boy after Thanksgiving. So wasn’t expecting him to be such a big guy. So that was a quick overview of the year we had last year. I can’t wait to see what this year holds for us – me and my crew.